Door-operated rack extending and retracting means for a front-opening appliance cabinet



Sept. 9, 1969 L. w. GUTH 3,466,105

DOOR-OPERATED RACK EXTENDING AND RETRACTING MEANS FOR A FRONT-OPENING APPLIANCE CABINET Filed Dec. 21, 1967 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 F G INVENTOR.

LAUREN W. GUTH H \s ATTORNEY Sept. 9, 1969 L. wv GUTH 3.466,105

DOOR-OPERATED RACK EXTENDING AND RETRACTING MEANS FOR A FRONT'OPENING APPLIANCE CABINET Filed Dec. 21, 1967 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. LAUREN w. GUTH H\S ATTORNEY Sept. 9, 1969 W. 1 DOOR-OPERATED RACK EXTENDING AND RETRACTING MEANS FOR A FRONT-OPENING APPLIANCE CABINET Filed Dec. 21, 1967 4 Sheets-Sheet I5 INVENTOR LAUREN W. GU'TH ms ATTORNEY L. W. GUTH Sept. 9, 1969 A FRONT-OPENING APPLIANCE CABINET 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed Dec. 21, 1967 mH T l NU e we a mi W A 5 W m I) R .l: U m A N a 1 LV- B 3 iv 1 3 m 3 3 Z m 4 I- r a H\S ATTORNEY United States Patent U.s. Cl. 312-474 12 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Door-operated means for extending or retracting an article-receiving rack of an appliance, such as a dishwasher or the like, of the front-opening horizontally-hinged dropdoor type. The appliance includes a cabinet structure forming an enclosure having a front wall provided with an access opening and a door for the opening hinged for pivotal movement about its bottom edge between a generally vertical fully closed position and a substantially horizontal fully open position. An article-receiving rack is supported within the enclosure for movement through the access opening on first track means within the enclosure and second track means on the door inner surface, which are horizontally aligned when the door is in its fully open position. Drive means are mounted on one of the enclosure walls for engagement with the movable rack. The drive means are operable, when actuated, to propel a major portion of the rack through the access opening in a fore-andaft direction. Means carried by the door for pivotal movement therewith are provided for actuating the drive means during only the final few degrees of pivotal opening movement and the initial few degrees of closing movement of the door, whereby the drive means are operated only when the enclosure and door track means are generally horizontally aligned.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the invention The present invention relates generally to appliances and more particularly to door-operated means for extending and retracting an article-receiving rack of a dishwasher of the front-opening drop door type.

Dishwashing machines often include a cabinet structure forming a washing enclosure having an access opening through the front side wall thereof. The access opening is usually provided with a door hinged at its bottom for pivotal movement from a vertical to a horizontal position to permit access to the washing enclosure. In such machines, rack means are provided for supporting articles to be washed within the washing enclosure. These rack means commonly include an open framework rack supported on rollers that rest upon tracks on the enclosure side walls at the lower portion of the enclosure. The door is also provided with tracks which align with the enclosure tracks when the door in its horizontal or fully open position, and the rack is manually rolled along the enclosure and door tracks to position the same over the open door to facilitate loading of the rack. Following loading, the rack must be manually rolled on the door and enclosure tracks to a retracted position wholly within the enclosure tracks to a retracted position wholly within the enclosure and the door, then, manually closed by an additional subsequent manual operation. Hence, it would be desirable if the door and the rack could be interconnected so that manual opening and closing of the door would simultaneously respectively result in automatic extension and retraction of the rack,

ice

whereby the conventionally required additional manual operations of the rack could be eliminated.

Description of the prior art US. Patents No. 3,058,479 and 3,248,158 disclose dooroperated means for extending an article-receiving rack of a dishwasher of the front-opening drop-door type. However, these prior-art means operate to extend only a small fraction of the rack onto the open door and the dishwasher operator is still required to manually further extend the rack in order to conveniently load the same.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides improved door-operated means for extending and retracting the article-receiving rack of an appliance, such as a dishwasher or the like, of the front-opening horizontally hinged drop-door type, wherein the rack is supported for movement through the access opening on first rack means within the enclosure and on second track means on the door, which are horizontally aligned when the door is in its fully open position. In accordance with the present invention, drive means are mounted on a wall of the enclosure for engagement with the movable rack. The drive means are operable, when actuated, to propel a major portion of the rack through the enclosure opening in a fore-and-aft direction. Means carried by the door for hinged pivotal movement therewith are provided for actuating the drive means during only the final few degrees of the opening or the initial few degrees of the closing movements of the door, whereby the drive means are operated only when the enclosure and door track means are generally horizontally aligned.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING The present invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIGURE 1 is a right side elevational view, with parts broken away to illustrate details, of an automatic dishwasher incorporating the present invention, with the washing enclosure access opening door shown in its vertical or fully closed position;

FIGURE 2 is a fragmentary view similar to FIGURE 1, showing in detail the condition of the door-operated rack extending and retracting means as the door approaches its final few degrees of opening movement or completion of its initial few degrees of closing movement;

FIGURE 3 is a view similar to FIGURE 2, but showing the condition of the rack extending and retracting means with the door in its horizontal or fully open position;

FIGURE 4 is an enlarged partly broken fragmentary elevational view of the interior of the right side wall of the washing enclosure of the dishwasher of FIGURE 1, with portions of the lower rack and the means for engaging the same to the door-operated drive means shown in cross-section;

FIGURE 5 is a view taken substantially along line 5-5 Of FIGURE 4;

FIGURE 6 is a view similar to FIGURE 4 of another form of the present invention; and

FIGURE 7 is a view taken substantially along lines 77 of FIGURE 6.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Referring now to the drawings and particularly to FIG- URE 1 thereof, there is illustrated an automatic dishwasher 10 having a cabinet structure including an outer present invention in a dishwasher in for purposes of illustration only.

A washing enclosure 13 is defined within the inner cabinet 12 which includes left and right side walls 14 and 15, and the outer and inner cabinets 11 and 12 are constructed with flanged registering front wall openings mated together to provide an access opening 16 to the washing enclosure 13 so that articles may be placed therein or removed therefrom.

A door 17 is provided for the access opening 16 and is hinged about its bottom edge by hinge means 18 so as to pivot about a horizontal axis between a non-horizontal or generally vertical fully-closed position (FIGURE 1) and a substantially horizontal fully-open position (FIG- URE 3).

The hinge means 18 comprise two hinge mechanisms that are respectively provided adjacent the left and right sides of the bottom of the door 17. While only the right hinge mechanism is shown in the drawings, it should be understood that the left is generally similar in structure. Each of the left and right hinge mechanisms includes a door-mounted hinge member 19 that is hinged by a horizontally-arranged pin 20 to a stationary hinge member 21 that protudes from the front of the cabinet structure beneath the access opening 16. Each door-mounted hinge member 19 is formed with a generally arcuately-shaped hinge arm 19a, which has a distal end that projects rearwardly and downwardly into the space between the outer and inner cabinets 11 and 12 through an aperture provided in the access opening flange. The distal end of each hinge arm 19a is provided with a stop surface 22 which engaged the rear face of the inner cabinet access opening flange as the door 17 reaches its horizontal fully open position (FIGURE 3). A tension spring 23 is connected between the distal end of each hinge arm 19a and a bracket 24 secured to the base of the cabinet structure. Each spring 23 serves as a counterbalance to facilitate closure of the door 17.

A pair of vertically spaced open-framework racks 25 and 26 are provided within the washing enclosure 13. Each of the racks 25 and 26 is formed of wire rods in a conventional manner so as to receive, in suitable position for washing, a varied assortment of articles, such as dishes, glassware and the like (not shown). Also, each of the racks 25 and 26 is mounted so as to move generally horizontally outwardly through the opening 16 (to the left as seen in FIGURES l-3) when the door 17 is fully open, so that the racks are made accessible for loading and unloading purposes.

The support system for giving this mobility to the upper rack 25 may be of any conventional design. For example, the upper rack 25 maybe provided with a slideout mechanism (not specifically shown), as described and claimed by Norman L. Kendt in US. Patent 3,096,- 125, issued July 2, 1963 and assigned to the General Electric Company, assignee of the present invention. Since the exact slide mechanism provided for the upper rack 25 is not critical to the present invention, it is not described in detail herein.

The lower rack 26 has a horizontal cross-sectional area substantially equal to that of the enclosure 13 and is provided with a series of roller sets 27a, 27b and 27c on the left and right edges of its bottom. When the rack 26 is positioned wholly within the enclosure in its fully retracted position, at least the rear set of the rollers 27c rest upon parallel horizontal surfaces or tracks 28 provided on the interior of the enclosure left and right side walls 14 and 15. The enclosure tracks 28 extend forwardly from the rear of the enclosure and terminate adjacent the access opening 16. As best shown in FIGURE 3, other tracks 29 are provided on the inner face of the door 17 which, when the door 17 is pivoted to its fully open position, are horizontally aligned with the enclosure tracks 28 to permit a major portion of the rack 26 to be rolled generally horizontally onto the open door 17.

As previously indicated, the present invention is particularly concerned with providing means operable by the manual opening and closing of the door 17 to respectively simultaneously automatically perform the extension and retraction of the lower rack 26 from and into the enclosure 13, whereby the conventionally required additional manual operations for extending and retracing thereof can be eliminated. As described in detail hereinafter, the present invention provides such door-operated means and further provides that they are operable during only the final few degrees of the opening and initial few degrees of the closing movements of the door 17 about the hinge pins 20, when the enclosure and door tracks 28 and 29 are generally horizontally aligned, whereby undesirable cocking of the rack 26 is avoided during its extension or retraction through the enclosure access opening 16 by the door-operated means of the present invention.

In accordance with a first form of the present invention (FIGURES 15), a horizontally-arranged first axle 30 is rotatably journalled in a bearing 31 secured by suitable means in an opening 32 in the enclosure right side wall 15 just below and rearward of the front edge of the right enclosure track 28. Of course, suitable sealing means are provided to prevent the escape of wash fluid from the enclosure 13 through the spaces between the opening 32 and bearing 31 and the axle 30 and the bearing 31. A drive pulley 33 is mounted on the inner end of the axle 30 for rotation therewith, and a pinion 34 is similarly mounted on the outer end of the axle 30. The pinion 34 is meshed with the teeth 35 of a gear segment 36, which is pivotally mounted on a horizontally-arranged second axle 37 that is fixed on the exterior of the enclosure right side wall 15, above and forward of the first axle 30. The gear segment 36 is formed with or has attached to it a notched cam surface 38 which opens downwardly toward the bottom of the dishwasher 10.

The cam surface 38 is adapted to receive a cam following actuator member or pin 39 mounted on the right door hinge arm 19a. The cam following actuator member 39 is adapted to be slidably moved along the cam surface 38 by pivotal movement of the door 17 about the hinge pins 20, to thereby pivot the gear segment 36 about the fixed axle 37, thus causing rotation of the pinion 34 and pulley 33.

As best shown in FIGURES 4 and 5, the pulley 33 is connected by a surrounding cable 40 to an elongate channel-shaped carriage member 41 which is, in turn, detachably connected the right side of the bottom of the lower rack 26. The legs of the channel-shaped carriage member 41 extend downwardly over and are guided for fore-and-aft movement relative to the right enclosure side wall 15 by the upper edge of the pulley 33.

One end of the cable 40 is directly attached to the carriage member 41 adjacent the rear end of its web. The opposite end of the cable 40 is connected through a tension spring 42 to a point adjacent the front end of the carriage member web. The spring 42 performs the dual functions of taking up slack in the cable 40 and also biasing the carriage member web toward the upper edge of the pulley 33. This arrangement maintains alignment of the carriage member 41 over the pulley 33, even though the lower rack 26 may be detached from the carriage member 41 and completely removed from the dishwasher 10.

The lower rack 26 is removably mounted on the carriage member 41 by engaging one of the transverse wire rods 26a on forming its upstanding rear end in a downwardly and forwardly opening hook 43 formed by an upwardly projecting portion 41a of the rear end of the carriage member web and by fastening a transverselyextending wire rod 26b adjacent the front of the rack bottom with a clamp member 44 pivoted atop and adjacent the front end of the carriage member web. Obviously, with arrangement, the lower rack 26 can be readily detached from the carriage member 41 and completely removed from the dishwasher 10, if desired.

Undesirable cocking of the rack 26 during its extension or retraction through the enclosure access opening 16 is avoided by so arranging the cam following actuator member 39 on the door hinge arm 19a and the cam surface 38 on the gear segment 36 that the follower-induced pivotal movement of the gear segment 36, which causes rotation of the pinion 34 and pulley 33 that, in turn, imparts fore-and-aft movement of the carriage member 41 and the lower rack 26, is limited to the final few degrees of the opening and initial few degrees of the closing movements of the door 17, when the enclosure and door tracks 28 and 29 are generally horizontally aligned with one another. As best illustrated in FIGURES 2 and 3, the cam following actuator member 39 is slidably engaged in the notched cam surface 38 and outward or inward propulsion of the carriage member 41 and rack 26 through the opening 16 respectively commences or ends when the door 17 is within a few degrees, for example 17, of the horizontal plane. Furthermore, as shown in FIGURES 3 and 4, the foremost set of rollers 27a are journalled on the rack 26 at a slightly higher elevation than the other roller sets 27 b and 27c, whereby they can be rollingly engaged with and guided by the door tracks 29 when the door 17 is slightly above the horizontal plane, and, thus, further function to avoid undesirable cocking of the rack 26.

Assuming that the lower rack has been attached by the above-described hook 43 and clamp member 44 to the carriage member 41, as shown in FIGURES 4 and 5, and that the door 17 is in its fully closed position (FIGURE 1), the form of the present invention shown in FIGURES l-5, preferably operates in the following manner. The dishwasher operator manually pivots the door 17 downwardly about the hinge pins 20 toward its fully open position (FIGURE 3). The rack 26 will remain in its retracted position, wholly within the enclosure 13, until the door 17 is within a few degrees of the horizontal plane and the enclosure and door tracks 28 and 29 are generally horizontally aligned with one another (FIGURE 2), whereupon the cam following actuator member 39 on the door hinge arm 19a enters the notched cam surface 38 on the gear segment 36. Once the cam following actuator member 39 enters the notched cam surface 38, continued manual downward movement of the door 17 about the hinge pins 20 (FIGURE 3) moves the follower 39 along the cam surface 38 causing the gear segment 36 to pivot about the fixed axle 37 (clockwise as seen in FIGURES 1-3). This, in turn, rotates the pinion 34 and pulley 33 (counterclockwise as seen in FIGURES 1-3) to propel the carriage member 41 outwardly through the access opening 16 (to the left as seen in FIGURES l-3), rolling the rack roller sets 27a-c along the generally horizontally aligned enclosure and door tracks 28 and 29 to extend a major portion of the rack 26 over the top of the open door 17. Of course, downward movement of the door 17 is stopped by the engagement of the hinge arm stop surfaces 22 against the rear face of the access opening flange as the door reaches the fully open or horizontal position (FIGURE 3).

The lower rack 26 can now be retracted wholly within the enclosure 13 by a single manual operation of pivoting the door 17 upward about the hinge pins 20. This upward movement of the door 17 is, of course, assisted by the counterbalance springs 23. The initial few degrees of this upward manual movement of the door 17 cause the cam following actuator member 39 to slide along the cam surface 38, pivoting the gear segment 36 about the fixed axle 37 (counter-clockwise as seen in FIGURES 1-3) which, in turn, rotates the pinion 34 and pulley 33 (clockwise as seen in FIGURES 1-3) and thus propels the carriage member 41 and the attached lower rack 26 inwardly through the access opening 16 (to the right as seen in FIGURES 1-3) to a retracted position wholly within the enclosure while the enclosure and door tracks 28 and 29 are generally horizontally aligned with one another (FIGURES 2 and 3).

FIGURES 6 and 7 illustrate details of another form of the present invention which is generally similar to that described above, but which substitutes a drive wheel 45 for the pulley 33 on the inner end of the axle 30. In this alternative form of the present invention, the cable 40, carriage member 41 and spring 42 are omitted and the lower rack 26 is merely frictionally engaged with the drive wheel 45. As illustrated in FIGURES 6 and 7, this frictional engagement is accomplished by providing a rail 46 fixed on the bottom of the lower rack adjacent its right edge. The rail 46 extends in a fore-and-aft direction and can be frictionally engaged with the upper edge of a tire 47, which may be formed of an elastomeric material and suitably fixed around the outer circumference of the drive wheel 45.

When the rack 26 is in its retracted position wholly within the enclosure 13 (FIGURE 6), the rear of the rack 26 is supported by the rear rollers 270, which rest upon the enclosure tracks 28, and the front of the rack 26 is supported by the rail 46, which rests on the drive wheel tire 47. In this retracted position, both of the front roller sets 27a and 27b are elevated from the enclosure tracks 28.

Assuming that the lower rack 26 is positioned wholly within the enclosure 13 with its rail 46 in frictional engagement with the upper surface of the drive wheel tire 47 (FIGURES 6 and 7) and that the door 17 is in its fully closed position (FIGURE 1), this alternative form of the present invention (FIGURES 1-3 and 6-7) preferably operates in the following manner. The dishwasher operator manually pivots the door 17 downwardly about the hinge pins 20 towards its fully open position (FIG- URE 3). The rack 26 will remain in its retracted position wholly within the enclosure, until the door 17 is within a few degrees of the horizontal plane and the enclosure and door tracks 28 and 29 are generally horizontally aligned with one another (FIGURE 2), whereupon the cam following actuator member 39 on the door hinge arm 19a enters the notched cam surface 38. After the cam following actuator member 39 enters the notched cam surface 38, continued manual downward movement of the door 17 about the hinge pins 20 (FIGURE 3) moves the cam following actuator member 39 along the cam surface 38, causing the gear segment 36 to pivot about the fixed axle 37 (clockwise as seen in FIGURES 13). This, in turn, rotates the pinion 34 and the drive wheel 45 (counterclockwise as seen in FIGURE 3) to propel the frictionally engaged rail 46 and the attached lower rack 26 outwardly through the enclosure access opening 16 (to the left as seen in FIGURES l3). As the rotation of the drive wheel 46 propels the rail 46 and the attached lower rack 26 outwardly through the opening 16, thefront roller sets 27a and 27b are rollingly engaged with the door tracks 29 and guided therealong to extend a major portion of the rack 26 over the top of the open door 117. When the balance point of rail 46 passes outwardly over the top of the drive wheel tire 47, the rear rollers 27c are elevated from the enclosure tracks rack 26, thus leaving the rear portion of the rack 26 supported by the rail 46 that rests on the upper edge of the tire 47, and the front of the rack is supported by the rollers 2712 which rest on the door tracks 29. Downward movement of the door 17 is stopped by engagement of the hinge arm stop surfaces 22 against the rear of the access opening flange as the door 17 reaches open or horizontal position (FIGURE 3).

The lower rack 26 can now be retracted. wholly within the enclosure 13 by a single manual operation of pivoting door 17 upward about the hinge pins 20. This upward movement of the door 17 is, of course, assisted by the counterbalance springs 23. Retraction of the rack 26 is also accomplished by this alternative form of the present invention during only the initial few degrees of closing movement of the door 17, when the cam follower 39 is within the notched cam surface 38, and when the enclosure and door tracks 28 and 29 are generally horizontally aligned (FIGURES 2 and 3). The initial few degrees of this manual upward movement of the door 17 causes the cam following actuator member 39 to slide along the cam surface 38, pivoting the gear segment 39 to slide along the cam surface 38, pivoting the gear segment 36 on the fixed axle 37 (counter-clockwise as seen in FIGURES 13) which, in turn, rotates the pinion 34 and drive wheel 45 (clockwise as seen in FIGURES 1-3) and thus propels the frictionally engaged rail 46 and attached lower rack 26 inwardly through the access opening 16 (to the right as seen in FIGURES 13) to a retracted position wholly within the enclosure (FIGURES 1 and 2). As the balance point of the rail 46 passes inwardly over the tire 47, the rear rollers 270 are lowered into contact with the enclosure tracks 28 to provide support for the rear of the rack and the front of the rack is supported by the rail 46 which,

I of course, rests on the tire 47.

Thus, it can be seen, that the present invention provides improved means for extending and retracting the articlereceiving rack of an appliance, such as a dishwasher or the like, of the type including a cabinet of the front-opening horizontally-hinged drop-door type, which are operable by the manual opening and closing of the door to respectively simultaneously automatically extend and retract a major portion of the rack generally horizontally through the cabinet opening, whereby the conventionally required additional manual operations for extending and retracting the rack can be eliminated.

As will be evident from the foregoing description, certain aspects of the present invention are not limited to the particular details of construction of the forms illustrated, and it is contemplated that various other modifications or applications will occur to those skilled in the art. For example, other equivalent means, such as a rack and pinion, could be substituted for the drive wheel 45 and frictionally engaged rail 46 in the form of the invention shown in detailin FIGURES 6 and 7. Furthermore, the cam surface 38 on the gear segment 36 of both of the illustrated invention forms could be modified so that the door 17 and the pulley 33 or drive wheel 45 are actuated by the door-carried cam following actuator member 39 only during the final few degrees of the door opening movement, whereby the door-operated means of the present invention would operate only to extend the lower rack 26 but not to retract it. Also, while the present invention is illustrated as being installed only at the enclosure right side wall 15, it obviously could be installed at the left side wall 14 or installed in duplicate at both side walls 14 and 15.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. In an appliance, such as a dishwasher or the like, of the type including a cabinet structure forming an enclosure having a wall provided with an access opening and a door for the opening hinged for pivotal movement between non-horizontal fully closed position and a substantially horizontal fully open position, and an articlereceiving rack supported for movement through the opening on first track means within the enclosure and second track means on the door, which are horizontally aligned when the door is in its fully open position, door-operated means for respectively simultaneously extending a major portion of the rack through the opening upon opening of the door and retracting the rack wholly within the enclosure upon closing of the door, comprising:

(a) drive means mounted on a wall of the cabinet structure for engagement with the rack and operable, when actuated, to propel a major portion of the rack through the access opening; and

(b) actuator means mounted on the door for hinged pivotal movement therewith for actuating said drive means during only the final degrees of opening and initial degrees of closing movements of the door when the enclosure and door track means are generally horizontally aligned.

2. The invention of claim 1, further including means for detachably connecting the rack to said drive means, whereby the rack can be readily completely removed from the appliance.

3. The invention of claim 1, further including means for frictionally engaging the rack to said drive means, whereby the rack can be readily completely removed from the appliance.

4. The invention of claim 1, wherein said drive means comprises:

(a) a first axle rotatably journalled in a wall of the enclosure and having an inner end inside the enclosure and an outer end outside the enclosure;

(b) a drive member mounted on said inner end of said axle for rotation therewith;

(c) means for engaging the rack with said drive member;

(d) a pinion mounted on said outer end of said axle for rotation therewith;

(e) a second axle fixed on the cabinet structure outside of the enclosure;

(f) a gear segment provided on said second axle and meshed with said pinion; and

(g) cam means on said gear segment pivotally movable therewith about said second axle;

(h) said cam means being engageable with said actuator means for movement thereby during only the final degrees of opening and initial degrees of closing movements of the door when the enclosure and door track means are generally horizontally aligned.

5. The invention of claim 4, wherein:

(a) said drive member comprises a wheel; and

(b) said means for engaging the rack with said drive member comprise (i) tire means mounted on said wheel and (ii) rail means fixed on the rack and frictionally engageable with said tire means.

'6. The invention of claim 4, wherein:

(a) said drive member comprises a pulley; and

(b) said means for engaging the rack with said drive member comprise (i) a carriage member connected by cable means to said pulley and guided by said pulley for movement relative to the enclosure, and

(ii) means for detachably connecting the rack to said carriage member, whereby the rack can be readily completely removed from the appliance.

7. In an appliance, such as a dishwasher or the like, of the type including a cabinet structure forming an enclosure having a wall provided with an access opening and a door for the opening hinged for pivotal movement between a non-horizontal fully closed position and a substantially horizontal fully open position, and an article-receiving rack supported for movement through the opening on first track means within the enclosure and second track means on the door, which are horizontally aligned when the door is in its fully open position, dooroperated means for simultaneously extending a major portion of the rack outwardly through the opening upon opening of the door comprising:

(a) drive means mounted on a wall of the cabinet structure for engagement with the rack and operable, when actuated, to propel a major portion of the rack through the access opening;

(b) actuator means mounted on the door for hinged pivotal movement therewith for actuating said drive means to propel the major portion of the rack outwardly from the enclosure during only the final degrees of opening movements of the door when the enclosure and door track means are generally horizontally aligned.

8. The invention of claim 7, further including means for detachably connecting the rack to said drive means,

whereby the rack can be readily completely removed from the appliance.

9. The invention of claim 7, further including means for frictionally engaging the rack to said drive means, whereby the rack can be readily completely removed from the appliance.

10. The invention of claim 7, wherein said drive means comprises:

(a) a first axle rotatably journalled in a wall of the enclosure and having an inner end inside the enclosure and an outer end outside the enclosure;

(b) a drive member mounted on said inner end of said axle for rotation therewith;

() means for engaging the rack to said drive member;

(d) a pinion mounted on said outer end of said axle for rotation therewith;

(e) a second axle fixed on the cabinet structure outside of the enclosure;

(f) a gear segment pivoted on said second axle and meshed with said pinion; and

(g) cam means on said gear segment pivotal therewith about said second axle;

(h) said cam means being engageable with said actuator means for movement thereby to cause said drive member to rotate to propel the rack outwardly from the enclosure during only the final degrees of opening movements of said door when the enclosure and door track means are generally horizontally aligned.

11. The invention of claim 10, wherein:

(a) said drive member comprises a wheel; and

(b) said means for engaging the rack with said drive member comprise (i) tire means on said wheel and (ii) rail means fixed on the rack and frictionally engageable with said tire means. 12. The invention of claim 10, wherein: (a) said drive member comprises a pulley; and (b) said means for engaging the rack with said drive means comprise (i) a carriage member connected by cable means to said pulley and guided by said pulley for movement relative to the enclosure, and (ii) means for detachably connecting the rack to said carriage member, whereby the rack can be readily completely removed from the appliance.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 503,418 8/1893 Horrocks 312-25 2,069,706 2/1937 Gerwig et al 126-340 2,302,217 1 1/ 1942 Hennessy 126-340 2,308,455 1/ 1943 Reid 126-340 2,975,012 3/1961 Thull 312-274 2,987,363 6/1961 Morse 312-274 3,246,939 4/ 1966 Petkwitz et a1 312-274 3,387,905 6/ 1968 Lindenschmidt et a1. 312-274 JAMES T. McCALL, Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 

